We’ve all been there, sitting at home on a Friday evening, regretting the plans that our motivated (crazy) self made for the night. Sure, at 11am going out for wines and a dance sounded like a fantastic idea, but come 4pm going home to a hot shower, a face mask, and some wine in bed sounds a little (okay, a lot) more glorious.
We know we are not alone in this, the number of text chains we have with friends politely ‘flaking’ out of things is increasing by the day. Does it make us bad friends? No. Does it make us nanas? A little bit. Does it make us selfish? Absolutely not!
Thankfully, we, Generation Flake, are changing the game. Now, in a world where everyone is perpetually busy and finally welcoming the importance of self-love into their lives, we are admitting that sometimes, it’s better to flake out.
For years we’ve gone to social events we really didn’t want to go to; maybe we’ve had fun once we were there, but most of the time we have sat there counting down the minutes till we can politely tap out. Or flake out.
We wake up the morning of said social interaction, wondering what excuse we can use. Parent’s coming to town? Sick? Tired? We are too afraid to tell the truth – ‘I agreed to come out because at the time it seemed like a great idea but now The Good Place season 2 is out, I’m absolutely exhausted by social interactions and just want to spend time, by myself, watching Netflix scrolling Instagram’.
Thankfully, we, Generation Flake, are changing the game. Now, in a world where everyone is perpetually busy and finally welcoming the importance of self-love into their lives, we are admitting that sometimes, it’s better to flake out. It’s better to send a ‘sorry not sorry’ message and make it up to them ‘next time’. Cause, chances are, the other person is just as excited that you cancelled. We’ve all been thankful to receive a ‘hey do you mind if we postpone’ text every now and again.
In fact, there is a lot to be said for our flakiness.
It means we are finally listening to ourselves, accepting when we are tired and need to take a life-pause. Heck, we are the most anxious generation in history, give us a break!
It also means we are getting over the dreaded FOMO that sees us going out and having a shitty time (read: waking up terribly hungover the next day) just because we don’t want to miss out on anything. We’ve finally accepted that all we are going to miss is one friend getting too drunk, the other leaving with her Tinder date, a Maccas feast at midnight and a shitty day after because A) we wish we had stayed in and B) the hangover is worse because it wasn’t even worth it.
Yes, we may be a generation that can’t afford a house because we spend all our money on avocado, we may be a generation that is plagued by anxiety, but we are a generation that is learning how to listen to ourselves and how to put ourselves first. Maybe, we are the generation that is finally figuring out how to live our best lives?
